Is your workplace chaotic? (employees, jobs, companies, interest)

[mikeyking]

We are constantly bombarded in our culture with an image that everyone in corporate life is overworked, stressed and working very hard, and that all you have to do is keep your head down and work hard to succeed- but is this reality?

Companies like to present an image of great processes where every works perfectly, like clockwork, and everyone is working very hard.

But office workers are always bored, demotivated, badly managed and therefore do everything they can to avoid actually doing any work

Companies are riddled with people working in their self interest and gross inefficiency. There lots of problems throughout the organisation, but everyone ignores them and just carries on working in an inefficent ways.

Staff will take sick days regulary, dental appointments, doctors appointments, there always the first one out the door at 5PM.

Everything through most of the organisations is generally about impression management to those above, and this goes right the way through the organisation, and then those at the top impression manage to the clients - covering up the chaos that lies underneath the surface

My point most corporate organisations know they have not got the resources to get everything working properly, therefore it becomes about impression management. I not talking about any single company or industry - its just become to norm to expect chaos and disfunction.

Although generally at the end of day they deliver something to their customers- I just find it all a bit sickening to listen to sanctimonious people who deny all problems and brush everything under the carpet.

[nep321]

I do quality work and meet expectations during the day and leave sharply at 5PM. I refuse to work much later than that unless it's absolutely necessary. I am staunchly against slave labor culture in corporations.

[mikeyking]

not really addressing the issue in the post...

[zentropa]

My workplace is chaotic but in the opposite way.

When something goes down and the top dog needs us, people start running up and down the corridors, there is shouting and huddled conferences in hallways. Stuff gets done immediately and it gets done right.

Everyone works very hard, and are constantly plugged in to their Blackberrys. I am expected to be ready to work when I am on vacation, when I am sick, on weekends, and late into the night. We work at airports, on trains, at the dinner table, sitting by the pool. If I get a text or email while driving, I pull over and take care of it. If I get a message when I am fast asleep in the middle of the night, I wake up and deal with it.

The nature of what my boss does, and how we support him, cannot be tidily arranged to fit within an 8-hour, 7-day workweek. It doesn't bother me much at all to work like this. In fact it is very satisfying.

[dnvrsoul]

My workplace is chaotic but it's because I get bombarded with questions all day from different departments and I'm always putting out "fires" My manager is on vaation so I'm in charge so to speak-I work about 50-60 hours a week.but I like my job and am hoping I will get promoted..

[1984vt]

I agree to an extent with what the Op is stating. There are a very few people that actually do the work and the rest, well they sit around shopping on the interenet or hang out at peoples desks/offices, cubicles etc solving all the problems of the world and yet ignoring their own work.

I didn't realize this until later in life because I was always in outside sales so you can best bet we were (most of us anyway) working hard to earn commissions. When I got my first taste of an office job (Mondays only at the time) I couldn't believe the number of people I would see with nothing to do... And how much time they wasted rehashing sports events or TV shows. I thought this kind of wastefulness must have been unique to this organization but I was wrong.

Now I am in an office full time with another fortune 500 company and again, the lack of work ethic by some others makes it easy to shine. But, a lot of times these "do nothings" get upset with others who manage to get a lot of responsbility and recognition because they show initiative. I have 3 people in my department that make right at or over 100K a year and yet do hardly anything and spend most of the day talking about things that are not related to work or if it is related to work, complaining and yet coming up with no solutions to what they are complaining about.

No wonder companies can lay off thousands of workers at a time with very little effect on their final product. Managers like to build kingdoms so they hire FTEs when in reality, they could make do with the idle employees they already have.

[Braunwyn]

It can get chaotic where I work as well. I try to keep myself organized, my desk and bench clean, in order to keep my head above water, but there's always so much to do. Taking time off only means double the work while on site.

[deanwichester]

My office is chaotic because we are all overworked. So nobody is able to concentrate on a particular task to do it well enough.

[andywire]

At my work, there is a large poster stating that all employees must leave their work areas clean for the relieving shift. Whoever has the audacity not to clean their work areas will walk in to find that poster kindly placed on their toolbox as a gentle reminder. This strategy has worked quite well.

As for general chaos, yes I deal with it, as do my fellow employees and boss. We all know and understand that at some point, we all get a bit overwhelmed, so we are willing to lend a hand when we can. Those who help others generally will find themselves helped down the road. Our department is very productive as a result, and things seem to run very smooth.

I would say my boss is probably the hardest working man I have ever met. The time he puts in is incredible, and he never seems to get overwhelmed by the volume of work. He has a saying... "There is no bad news, only news." I believe he views problems as challenges waiting to be overcome, and very few seem to carry that mentality. I respect the man for many reasons, but the thing I respect most... While he could stay perched in his office high above us, he is no stranger to getting knee deep in the grunt work. He was one who started at the bottom and climbed his way to the top. I believe that kind of struggle builds a great deal of character and work ethic. His hands are as rough and callused as mine, although I could argue one is better compensated for it... Oh well, maybe one day...

At any rate, I don't envy anyone duking it out in the corporate world these days. Jobs are going to the lowest bidders, and it seems everyone has been competing to win the race to the bottom. There has been a lot of "trimming of the fat", but there are still people who care nothing about the work they do, or their job itself. It becomes other's job to carry the dead weight, on top of their own job duties. I have worked in one office in my life... That's one too many for me.

[nebulous1]

I have found by working many places...doing a great job, giving more than 100%, being a "teamplayer", going the extra-mile, showing up on time daily, being professional, etc...in other words, playing by the rules doesn't work. I have even been told that they don't care what you do or how great you do it, if or if you know your stuff...so I am clueless about the ass-kissing, and never got a good feel for how to do it. I guess I have my integrity, but I have never gotten ahead. I learned long ago, it's not what you know, it's who you know.